Magic: The Gangsters
by The Mangosity
Summary: Domino City faces its worst threat yet: gangsters who play Magic: The Gathering. Can Yugi and Kaiba put a stop to them? Or will Magic: The Gathering take over the city and replace Duel Monsters for good?


I randomly thought "Gangsters who play Magic: The Gathering" and then this wrote itself.

* * *

Magic: The Gangsters

 _Domino City faces its worst threat yet: gangsters who play Magic: The Gathering. Can Yugi and Kaiba put a stop to them? Or will Magic: The Gathering take over the city and replace Duel Monsters for good?_

Yugi has always thought that the Blue-Eyes White Dragon paperweight sitting on Kaiba's desk was the ideal size and shape for beating someone senseless. Not that Kaiba would ever dream of doing anything like that. It's been years since he tried to kill anyone, but something tells Yugi that's about to change in the very near future.

"Those punks think they can come into my city and do whatever they want?" Kaiba shouts, gesturing wildly and pacing back and forth behind his desk. "They don't know who they're messing with."

 _My city?_ Yugi thinks. He nearly laughs, but the Blue-Eyes White Paperweight is still sitting there with its mouth wide open, displaying rows and rows of pointy blue teeth. He's not going to risk it. Instead he listens politely and nods and says "Yeah!" and "That's right!" at all the right moments, but he gets the feeling Kaiba isn't paying much attention to him.

"When I get my hands on them, they're going to wish they had never set foot in Domino City. They're going to wish they'd never even heard the world 'domino' in their pathetic little lives."

For once, Yugi actually agrees with Kaiba and his choicely worded threats. It really wasn't right what those gangsters did. He and Kaiba spent months organizing that tournament and picking out the venue. They just managed to snag the Domino Dome, Yugi's personal favorite Duel arena in all of Domino City, second only to the Kaiba Dome. They even came up with an interesting gimmick. Switching decks in the middle of a Duel was going to be the next big thing in Duel Monsters, but all their hard work went to waste when that gang rolled through and trashed everything. Unlike usual, their gang troubles have nothing to do with Joey's old gang and everything to do with Duel Monsters' biggest rival.

"Magic: The Gathering isn't half the game Duel Monsters is," Kaiba says through gritted teeth. "If those thugs had half a brain, they would have at least attacked us with Pokémon holograms."

"Obviously," Yugi says. Kaiba looks at him sourly, but Yugi only smiles back.

"Ruining that tournament was only the beginning," Kaiba continues. "My sources say they're making trouble all over town. They're targeting anyone and anything that has to do with Duel Monsters."

"I know," Yugi says. "Grandpa and I have had to close the game shop early all week because of them."

"What?" Somehow Kaiba manages to clench his jaw even tighter. His eyes burn with barely restrained furry. "What did they do?"

"Nothing yet," Yugi says quickly. That's not entirely true. Lately the Magic: The Gathering gang has been harassing anywhere that sells Duel Monsters Merchandise, and that includes the Kame Game Shop. Yugi is pretty sure he almost got jumped a few nights ago while coming back home from picking up Grandpa's prescription from Domino Pharmacy, but he's not about to say that. Kaiba is already angry enough as it is. "Grandpa just thinks it's safer this way."

For a second Yugi thinks the paperweight is growling at him. Then he realizes it's Kaiba. "That's it." Kaiba slams his hands against his desk, startling Yugi and nearly knocking over all of his expensive corporate toys. "Those gangsters are going to pay. First they try to make fools out of us and now they've got us hiding in our own city. Someone needs to remind them which is the most successful trading card game on the face of the planet, and we're going to be the ones to do it."

"Huh?" Yugi didn't realize Kaiba planned on actually doing anything about all of this. He thought he just needed someone to yell at. Then again, he could have just called in Roland for that. "What can we do?"

Kaiba grins like the Toon monsters he so despises, and Yugi gulps. Kaiba hasn't smiled like that in a long, long time. Yugi doesn't think he wants any part of whatever Kaiba is about to say. Then Kaiba starts to explain his plan. The more Yugi hears, the more he thinks this might actually work.

* * *

"Don't try to stop me, guys," Yugi says. He slips on a pair of fingerless leather gloves. They're both emblazoned with angry Kuribohs. "I have to do this for Domino City."

"Hang on, Yuug," Joey says. "I don't know what crazy ideas Kaiba's putting in your head, but going out and getting yourself killed isn't going to solve anything."

"They're not crazy ideas," Yugi shoots back. He pauses to put on a blue cape with a fierce Eye of Horus in the center. "These gangsters are nothing but bullies, and there's only one way to deal with bullies." He ties a thin mask over his eyes. "You have to stand up to them." Yugi fastens his utility belt with a flourish and twirls to face his friends. "How do I look?"

"Ridiculous." Téa says. "Absolutely ridiculous. Look, we want those Magic: The Gathering creeps out of Domino City as much as you do, but this is insane. You're not going to be able to stop those gangsters all by yourself."

"I won't be by myself. Kaiba is coming with me."

Joey snorts. "Yeah, I'd feel real safe with him around."

Téa shoots him a look and he shuts up. "We just don't want you getting hurt," she says softly. "I know you want to make a difference, but Joey is right. You and Kaiba are both going to get killed if you go through with this."

"Right." Joey steps in front of Yugi's bedroom door. "That's why we're not letting you leave this house, especially not looking like that."

"Hey!" Yugi says. "Are you saying you don't like my costume?"

"We're saying we don't like the idea of you getting pounded into the pavement. Let me spell it out for you: those gangsters are going to beat you into next week's Duel Monsters tournament. And you do look pretty ridiculous."

Yugi sighs. He knew his friends might not understand, but he figured he should tell someone where he was going in case he really didn't come back. He will come back, though. He owes it to his friends, his family and every other person living in Domino City. Yugi reaches into his utility belt and slowly backs away. "I'm really sorry about this. Really. But I don't have a choice."

"Yugi, what're you about to do?" Téa starts to say, but Yugi cuts her off by throwing down a smoke bomb.

Téa and Joey begin to cough.

"Yugi!"

"What the hell, Yuug?"

"Don't worry about me," Yugi says through the haze. "I'll be fine. There's a reason Kaiba asked for my help."

When the smoke clears, Yugi is gone.

"Huh," Joey says once they've checked under the bed and in the closet. "He really is gone. Did you hear the window open?"

Téa shakes her head. "Great. It's like he really disappeared. What are we going to tell Grandpa?"

"Easy," Joey says. "We blame Kaiba."

* * *

Up on the roof of the KaibaCorp building, Yugi spots Kaiba right away. He's standing right at the very edge, silently watching over Domino City. Yugi has never been up here at night before. The city is a dazzling sea of blinking lights and moving cars. He thinks he can see his house from here. Does Kaiba get this view every night when he's up in his office working late? He'll have to ask later.

"You're late," Kaiba says without turning around.

Yugi scrambles over to Kaiba's side. "Sorry. My friends were really worried. They didn't want me to come."

Kaiba laughs. "I knew they wouldn't get it."

"I bet Mokuba wasn't too happy about letting you do this either."

"Hmph."

Yugi will take that as a "Not another word or I'll push you to your doom." He looks over Kaiba's costume and realizes that he isn't wearing a costume at all. He's wearing the same thing he always wears, trench coat and all. The only difference is the blue dragon helmet. That's when it clicks. "Are you dressed as Kaibaman?"

"Yeah. Do you have a problem with that?" Kaiba asks, staring down at him through the pupil-less eyes of his mask.

"No," Yugi replies honestly. There's nothing wrong with Kaiba's costume. He looks just like the Duel Monster. The card was designed to look like him, after all. He even has the long, flowing hair. Yugi wonders if he looks as ridiculous as Kaiba does. If so, he understands a little better why his friends didn't want him leaving the house. "But isn't the point of dressing up to keep people from recognizing us?"

"This is the perfect disguise," Kaiba says, grinning with his usual self-assurance. "No one would ever suspect it's actually me."

Yugi shrugs. "If you say so." He's pretty sure Kaiba is only using the Kaibaman card as an excuse to dress up as himself. "So what's the news?"

Kaiba goes back to staring over the city lights. "My contact says they've taken Downtown Domino."

"What? That fast?"

Kaiba nods. "They're moving quickly." He punches his hand. "I'll make then think twice about messing around in my city."

"You mean 'our' city." Kaiba glares at him. Yugi grins. "Let's go."

* * *

Kaiba's technology makes leaping from building to building a breeze. Yugi won't ask why KaibaCorp was prepared to produce grappling hooks and state-of-the-art bungee shoes on such short notice. With this technology, they stand a fighting chance against the gangsters. They keep to the shadows, scanning the streets for any signs of danger. It doesn't take them long to find it. Less than a minute into Downtown Domino, Yugi and Kaiba hear a woman shout, "My purse! Help! Thieves!"

The thieves are unmistakably a part of the Magic: The Gathering gang. They're all wearing Magic: The Gathering t-shirts. Yugi and Kaiba tail them for a few blocks before watching them run into an alleyway. Counting the ones who were waiting in the alley, there are five of them in total. Easy picking.

"Follow my lead," Kaiba says under his breath. He fires his grappling hook and swoops down into the alley. Yugi follows suit and they both land noiselessly on a pair of crates. The gangsters don't seem to notice. They're too busy rifling through the woman's purse.

"What do we have here?" Kaiba calls with his most ruthless businessman voice. Yugi has to admit even he's a little scared.

"What the—?" The gangsters spin around to see Yugi and Kaiba standing menacingly on a dumpster.

"Who the hell are you?" one of them asks.

"Your worst nightmare," Kaiba says. "I'm Kaibaman. This is my sidekick, Kaiba Lad."

"Hey! I'm not your sidekick! And we agreed I'm Millennium Man!"

"Fine. This is Millennium Lad."

"Kaiba!... _Man_."

"Wait a minute. Kaibaman?" one of the gangsters says. "I get it. You two are just a couple'a Duel Monsters freaks who think you can dress up in funny costumes and clean up the streets. Am I right?"

Kaiba snorts. "Something like that."

"We're here to put a stop to you!" Yugi shouts. "You don't have any right to go around using Magic: The Gathering to terrorize people. Games are supposed to be for fun, not to hurt people."

The gang member laughs. "That's real cute. I'll be sure to remember that when I'm having a bad day." He reaches into his coat and pulls out a pistol, aiming straight for Kaiba. "Sorry, but this city belongs to Magic now. Duel Monsters is dead."

With that, he fires.

Nothing happens.

Kaiba crosses his arms. "You might want to work on your aim."

"What?" The gangster shakes his gun and tries to fire again and again, but the gun won't work. Yugi keeps his gaze steady. If he lets his concentration lapse in the slightest, the gun might explode in the man's hand. That's not what he wants to happen. The gun jerks itself out of the man's hand and breaks in half. The gangster yelps as Shadows curl around his torso and lift him and his companion into the air.

"I bet you didn't see that one coming," Kaiba says. Yugi hardly hears him. He flips the gangsters upside down and a handful of weapons clatters to the ground. It's mostly knifes and stun guns. He orders the Shadows to search them for any other weapons they might be hiding.

This is the reason Kaiba asked for his help. When Pharaoh Atem left for the afterlife, he was supposed to take the Shadow Games with him. Not all of the Shadows obeyed. Some stayed behind, and ever since the Ceremonial Duel Yugi has heard them whispering on the wind.

The things they say aren't always easy to ignore.

 _Make them pay._

That one has a knife. That one has a knife and a gun. That one has two stun guns. It all seems a little excessive to Yugi.

 _Kill them._

The last of the weapons clatters to the ground, and Yugi has to make the effort not to look at them. The Shadows might take that as permission to use one of them.

 _It doesn't have to hurt._

"Yu…Millennium Man," Kaiba says.

The whispers are louder than whatever Kaiba has to say.

 _Just this once. Show them what happens when you mess with Duel Monsters._

Yugi only has to flick his hand and the gangsters slam into the back wall of the alley. They scream with real pain. Yugi doesn't want to admit it, but it feels good.

Kaiba grabs his shoulder. "Enough."

Yugi blinks hard. He's had trouble controlling the Shadows before, but he promised himself that wouldn't be a problem tonight. He takes a deep breath and the Shadows fade away, along with the whispers. The gangsters fall to the ground in a flailing heap.

"What the hell was that?" one of them shouts.

"You guys aren't freaks," another says. "You're more than freaks! Let's get outta here!"

The gangsters all make a run for it, but Yugi throws up a wall of Shadows and they crash right into it. "You've trespassed in the souls of every Duelist in Domino city," Yugi says. "Plus that woman whose purse you stole." He can feel Kaiba lifting an eyebrow at the part about "trespassing," but Yugi can't help it. He learned about serving justice from the best. "Why don't we play a little game?" He takes out his deck and begins to shuffle. "Our Duel Monsters against your…whatever you have in Magic: The Gathering."

One of the gangsters who isn't cowering in terror steps forward and puffs out his chest. "We have monsters! And a whole bunch of other stuff you don't have in Duel Monsters!"

"Fine," Yugi says. "Why don't you get out your deck and we'll settle this once and for all?"

The gangster smirks. "Are you stupid? You can't mix Magic: The Gathering and Duel Monsters. They're completely different games."

Yugi smirks right back. "Not the way we play." He draws the top card and flips it around without looking at it. "Go, Buster Blader!" A swirling vortex of Shadows appears in the sky above the alley and Buster Blader flies through, holding his sword at the ready. Yugi would have played the Dark Magician, but he and Kaiba are trying to keep their identities a secret. Playing his signature monster would be too risky.

The same isn't true for Kaiba. He is Kaibaman, after all. "Blue-Eyes, teach these punks what real gamers look like!" Instead of coming through a vortex like Buster Blader, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon bursts to life in a brilliant lightshow. It roars and flaps its wings, sending a windstorm at the gangsters. It's smaller than usual since they're in the narrow alleyway and all, but that doesn't make it any less terrifying. It's a lot scarier than the paperweight.

"Your turn," Yugi calls to the gang members. "Pick whatever monsters you want."

"B-But…how?" the gangster sputters.

"Just call their names. The monsters will do the rest."

"And if we win, you and the rest of your little Magic: The Gathering club get the hell out of Domino," Kaiba says.

"No!" the gangster insists. "I mean how did you summon Duel Monsters without a Duel Disk?"

"Oh." Yugi laughs and winks. "That's a secret."

"What my sidekick… _partner_ ," Kaiba corrects himself when Yugi coughs, "means to say is that it's none of your business. Now hurry up and play your pathetic excuse for a trading card so we can end this already."

The gangster gulps and pulls his deck out of his pocket. His hands are shaking. Yugi can't help but grin. He doesn't like to feel joy from other people's fear. That's Kaiba's job and it's perilously close to bullying, but he thinks he'll make an exception this one time. He's going to enjoy this.

* * *

By the end of their Duel, if it could be called that, the gangsters are sprawled out all over the cold, hard ground. Yugi doesn't even remember the names of the monsters they summoned, but it doesn't matter. They were no match for the Blue-Eyes-Buster-Blader combo.

"You win!" the gangster that Dueled them shouts. He's on his knees with his hands clasped together, Buster Blader's sword only inches from his nose. "Please don't hurt us!"

"Are you going to hold up your end of the deal?" Yugi asks.

"We'll do anything!"

Kaiba scowls and folds his arms. "Fine. Get out of here, you scumbags."

The gangsters don't need telling twice. They scramble to their feet and lunge for the exit, tripping over their feet, their cards and each other in their mad dash for the street.

"If we ever see you in this town again, you'll be sorry!" Kaiba calls after them.

Not one of them looks back.

Yugi waits until the gangsters are good and gone before letting the monsters fade away. "I can't believe we just did that."

Kaiba looks way too smug for his own good. "That'll teach them to mess with Duel Monsters."

"Yeah! You said it!" Yugi holds his hand up in a high five, and Kaiba does the unthinkable—he high fives him back. This is the start of a beautiful crime-fighting duo. Yugi can hardly contain his enthusiasm. "Want to go find some more gangsters?"

Before Kaiba can say a word, someone shouts from the head of the alley, "There they are!"

Yugi and Kaiba whip around, decks held at the ready, Shadows swirling around at Yugi's ankles. When he sees who it is, Yugi nearly falls over. "Téa? Joey?"

"I don't believe it," Kaiba mutters under his breath as Yugi's friends run up to them. "How did you geeks find us?"

"My gang senses were tingling like crazy," Joey says. "It led us right to you."

"You're joking."

"Yeah, we just so happened to be standing right across the street when those guys ran out of here."

"What did you do to them?" Téa asks. "And Kaiba, what in the world are you wearing on your head?"

Yugi laughs nervously as Kaiba begins to simmer. "I'll explain everything as soon as I give that woman back her purse."

"You'd better start explaining," Joey says. "We've been looking all over for you. And you wouldn't believe the crazy story we had to tell your grandpa to cover for you. He thinks you and Kaiba are—"

"Hey!" Téa says suddenly. "I think that's my purse!"

"What?" Yugi says.

She grabs it out of his hand and looks through it. "It is my purse. I thought I would never see it again."

"That was you?" Yugi thinks back to the woman who screamed. At the time she didn't sound like anyone he knew. Maybe he was too busy tailing those gangsters to recognize his closest friend's voice. "What were you doing all the way out here, anyway?"

"Looking for you," Téa says. "We thought we should go after you before you did something really stupid."

Yugi rubs the back of his head. "Oh. Sorry."

"Wait. Let me get this straight," Kaiba says. "You mean to tell me you two wandered into gang territory to keep us from doing something stupid?"

"Yeah, not one of our better ideas," Joey says, locking his fingers behind his head. "But we found you, didn't we?"

Kaiba makes a sound perilously close to a laugh. "Whatever. Can we get out of here before the cops show up?"

"Good idea," Yugi says, although the thought of Kaiba getting arrested while dressed like this is almost enough to make him want to get caught. Almost. He pulls out his grappling hook and fires it at a nearby streetlight.

Joey rears back. "Holy crap. Where'd you get that?"

"Trade secret," Kaiba says, firing his own grappling hook. "Catch you losers later."

With that, he swoops away and out of sight, up into the shadows.

"Seriously, don't worry, guys," Yugi says, tugging at the line to make sure it's secure. "I promise we'll be careful."

"Just make sure you don't get yourselves killed, okay?" Téa says.

"And give those gangsters one for me," Joey says.

"Me too."

"Yugi, will you hurry up?" Kaiba shouts from somewhere above them. "The night's not getting any younger, and neither am I!"

"Sorry," Yugi calls back. He smiles and gives his friends a two-fingered salute. "Duty calls."

Yugi zips away on his grappling hook and disappears over the roof of the next building over, leaving Joey and Téa all alone in the middle of an alley in Downtown Domino.

Téa sighs. "Those two are crazy."

"Yep," Joey replies, nodding. "Hey, if they get turned into gangster chow, you think Yugi would let me have his Duel Disk?"

"Joey!"

"Ouch. What? It's way nicer than mine."

* * *

A few days later, Yugi is back in Kaiba's office reading the latest headline in the Daily Domino newspaper.

"'Gang Activity Dwindles in Downtown Domino Along with Magic: The Gathering Sales,'" Yugi reads out loud as Kaiba types at breakneck speeds. Apparently being out all night for the past week hasn't done a thing to Kaiba's work ethic. "Kaiba, look." Yugi points to a blurry KaibaPhone photo taken a couple of nights ago when they were careless enough to be seen on the roof of Burger World. Fortunately it's not clear enough to make out any identifying features. "We're famous."

Kaiba snorts. "Hardly. Just be glad no one recognized us."

"Yeah. I wouldn't want to get caught less than a week after we started being superheroes."

"Superheroes?"

"What? We are," Yugi insists. "Well, some of us are." Kaiba narrows his eyes but doesn't look away from his computer screen. "Who knows? Maybe one day some of my superpowers will rub off on you."

"Can it, Yugi."

Yugi laughs, but he really does believe that Kaiba might eventually be able to control the Shadows. He has just as much connection to Shadow Magic as Yugi. It wouldn't be weird at all if he woke up one day with Duel Monsters dancing all over his room, the way Yugi did. "Since we are superheroes and all," Yugi says, "I was thinking we should come up with a name for ourselves."

"I've already taken care of that," Kaiba says.

"Really? What did you come up with?"

Kaiba looks up from his work for the first time that day. "You and I are the Dynamic Duelists."

Yugi's mouth trembles with held-back laughter. It sounds like something Joey would come up with.

Kaiba frowns. "What? You don't like it?"

"No! Of course I do," Yugi says, holding his hands up. Somewhere, Atem is laughing at them. "It's perfect."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This whole story makes it seem like I really hate Magic: The Gathering! I totally don't! I barely know anything about it, which probably shows in the story :D Yeah, those Magic: The Gathering monsters don't matter. It's all about YuGiOh! I'm a team player! After writing this, "gangsters who play Magic: The Gathering" seems normal...Like they could actually exist somewhere...I hope to God they do...


End file.
